Darebin has completed a perfect home-and-away season and sent a collective shudder through their finals competitors after dispatching of second-placed Melbourne Uni by 72 points at Avalon Airport Oval.
In the final game of the 2016 Swisse VFL Women’s season, Darcy Vescio’s five goals spearheaded the Falcons’ 15.7 (97) to 3.7 (25) victory, as Callum O’Connor reports.
The Falcons ensured they will face a new opponent in week one of the finals this weekend at Box Hill City Oval, set to meet St Kilda in a Semi Final after Uni’s defeat pushed them into an Elimination Final against Eastern Devils.
Darebin’s precision ball movement proved the difference early in the contest, kicking six straight goals in the first quarter from just 15 forward entries. Despite Uni kicking the first of the game through Jess Anderson, the Falcons rose to the challenge - Elise O’Dea winning the ball across the middle, Norieul Kinross was well on top in ruck while in defence Mel Hickey worked her way to the front to intercept attacks.
The absence of key defender Cecilia McIntosh and ruck Catherine O’Bryan hurt the Mugars as they struggled to find the right match-ups in defence. They weren’t helped by Darebin’s move of sending their stars forward in the first quarter, with Vescio and Daisy Pearce (two each) enjoying their space in front of the big sticks as the irrepressible Falcons overwhelmed Melbourne Uni in the hard-ball gets.
The Falcon forwards proved just as accurate as their midfielders, posting 10.1 to half time as they went to the main break with an unassailable eight-goal lead. Vescio, having proven herself as a key defender in the second half of the season, was at her best as a forward where her phenomenal ball control and agility made her unstoppable.
After kicking the opening goal of the match, Uni could only show glimpses of their best as the game progressed. Defenders Brooke Lochland, Nicole Hildebrand and Karly Tapner won plenty of the ball and attempted to break the lines but Darebin’s ability to win the fifty-fifty contests – at which Melbourne Uni have proved very difficult to beat all season – starved the Mugars of their forward drive.
Bailey Hunt was given the task of guarding Darebin’s leading goal kicker Katie Brennan and made the star forward earn her touches. Although Brennan did some damage on the rebound further afield, Hunt kept her to her lowest goal haul in nearly two months.
The memory of the nail-biter the two sides played out in Round 8 was a distant memory by the time the siren rang out over Avalon Airport Oval.
Simply too fast, too strong and too good, Darebin claimed a minor premiership that they sealed up two weeks ago while Melbourne Uni have now lost to two of their finals opponents over the last three weeks, facing one of those two – the Eastern Devils – in an Elimination Final this Sunday.
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Photo: Cameron Grimes
Last Modified on 23/08/2016 23:43